Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
11 Teach me your ways, Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
let me wholeheartedly[a] revere your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole being;
and I will honor your name continuously.
13 For great is your gracious love to me;
you’ve delivered me from the depths of Sheol.[b]
14 God, arrogant men rise up against me,
while a company of ruthless individuals want to kill me.
They do not have regard for you.[c]
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate God,
merciful and patient,[d]
with unending gracious love and faithfulness.
16 Return to me and have mercy on me;
clothe your servant with your strength
and deliver the son of your maid servant.
17 Show me a sign of your goodness,
so that those who hate me will see it and be ashamed.
For you, Lord, will help and comfort me.
Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael
16 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne a child for him. She had an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai told Abram, “You are well aware that the Lord has prevented me from giving birth to a child. Go have sex with my servant, so that I may possibly bear a son[a] through her.”
Abram listened to Sarai’s suggestion, 3 so Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and gave her as a wife to her husband Abram. This took place[b] ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan. 4 He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.
5 Then Sarai told Abram, “My suffering is your fault! I gave you my servant so you could have sex with her,[c] and when she discovered that she was pregnant, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!”
6 Abram answered Sarai, “Look, your servant is under your control, so do to her as you wish.”[d] So Sarai dealt so harshly with Hagar[e] that she ran away from Sarai.[f]
7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the desert on the road to Shur. 8 “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he asked, “Where are you coming from and where are you going?”
She answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 The angel of the Lord told her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” 10 The angel of the Lord also told her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, who will be too many to count.
11 “Look, you are pregnant and will give birth to a son,” the angel of the Lord continued to say to her. “You will name him Ishmael,[g] because the Lord has heard your cry of[h] misery. 12 As a man, he’ll be uncontrollable.[i] He’ll[j] be against everyone, everyone will be against him,[k]and he’ll live in conflict with[l] all of his relatives.”
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are ‘God who sees,’ because I have truly seen the one who looks after me.”
14 That’s why the spring was called, “The Well of the Living One who Looks after Me.” It was between Kadesh and Bered.
15 Hagar eventually gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael.
The Letter to the Church in Ephesus
2 “To the messenger[a] of the church in Ephesus, write:
‘The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lamp stands, says this:
2 ‘I know what you’ve been doing, your toil, and your endurance. I also know that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 You have endured and suffered because of my name, yet you have not grown weary. 4 However, I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Therefore, remember how far you have fallen. Repent and go back to what you were doing at first. If you don’t, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place—unless you repent. 6 But this is to your credit: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 ‘Let everyone[b] listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the privilege of eating from the tree of life that is in God’s paradise to everyone who overcomes.’”[c]
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